Education

Below you will find highlights of just some of the AIMS research related to public education including school choice, vouchers, site-based management and our ever-popular high school report cards. Please check through the postings below or the library listings found at the left of the screen to see the full scope of AIMS’ work on public education.

Hot Topics
02-Aug-2011
Since having to face economic austerity measures, the New Brunswick government is tackling a need to continue to raise academic performance scores after poor results on studies and tests over the past decade. AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill weighs in on the issues facing education in New Brunswick and compares policies and practices in the province to those of other province's in Canada.
13-Jun-2011
The notion that ours is the "most open, honest and accountable Canadian Government ever" is questioned when AIMS well-researched reports on education and healthcare reveal otherwise.
11-Jun-2011
New Brunswick spends more on individual students than neighbouring provinces, but test scores remain low. AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill explains that how much you spend on education isn't as relevant as what you spend it on.
26-May-2011
As our new MPs get settled into Ottawa, AIMS staff suggests some topics of importance to Atlantic Canada. AIMS Board Chair John Risley discusses China's importance on the world stage. The history of Friday the 13th is told. View Charles Cirtwill's talk on freedom of choice in education. Michael Zwaagstra talks about what's wrong with our schools.
10-May-2011
Tony Bislimi
In this commentary, Bislimi Group Foundation founder and president Tony Bisimli explains how the education establishments in Canadian provinces embellish international results, which has serious repercussions for Canadians.
26-Apr-2011
Bill Black
In this commentary, Bill Black of New Start Nova Scotia discusses the importance of post-secondary education, as well as the importance of accountability for their funding.
31-Mar-2011
On Monday, March 28, 2011, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) helped to facilitate a grassroots initiative to improve our education system.
31-Mar-2011
AIMS recent speaking tour on public education, featuring Michael Zwaagstra, author of What's Wrong with our Schools?...and how we can fix them (2010) was extremely well received with all audiences.
24-Mar-2011
In one area of provincial policy, Manitoba boldly stands alone. It is the only province that stubbornly refuses to make information about student academic performance available to the general public.
24-Mar-2011
In this editorial, Paul W. Bennet (Schoolhouse Institute) and AIMS President Charles Cirtwill look at Nova Scotia's new personal testimonials website for public schools. They suspect Nova Scotians have real stories to tell about our public schools. It’s high time we put students first in Nova Scotia education.
22-Mar-2011
Manitoba is the only province that stubbornly refuses to make information about student academic performance available to the general public.
22-Mar-2011
A public forum on education being held in Halifax next week is expected to draw educators, parents and interested citizens from throughout the province.
26-Nov-2010
Chronicle-Herald columnist Marilla Stevenson uses AIMS' research on early childhood education to make her point in this column.
22-Sep-2010
Charles Cirtwill, President and CEO of AIMS gives his opinion of the recent report by Tim O'Neill on the future prospects of the university system in this Op-Ed from the Chronicle Herald.
03-Aug-2010
AIMS author Paul W. Bennett discusses the future of the school board system in Nova Scotia.
01-Jun-2010
This event celebrating AIMS' 15th Anniversary featured former Governor Jeb. Bush uses his successful experience in Florida to provide tips on improving public education.
16-Apr-2010
Bobby O'Keefe
Atlantic Canadians know more today about what is happening in their high schools than they did when the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) released its first report card in 2003. With the release of the AIMS 8th Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools; parents, students, teachers and the public are being urged to do more with the information.
The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) in cooperation with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) release the broadest set of public information ever presented on Western Canadian high schools.
Books & Papers
17-Jan-2012
John Kennedy
In this paper, AIMS Research Intern John Kennedy argues that attracting and retaining Gen Y may be the key to economic growth in Atlantic Canada – and offers some insight as to how to get them here (to stay).
Bobby O'Keefe
The authors of AIMS Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools are seeing progress. Progress at individual schools and progress in releasing information to the public, but they also see missed opportunities, and lots of them. AIMS' 7th Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools has the details.
Charles Cirtwill
This Paper is based on a submission to the Nova Scotia government on school board governance. It explains why schools and school communities, not the Minister of Education, should call the shots in public education.
Rodney A. Clifton
Written by three experienced educators – Michael C. Zwaagstra, Rodney A. Clifton and John C. Long – this paper reviews the origins of teachers’ unions and how they moved from labour relations to education policy. It concludes that we all have failed to defend the public interest in education, and suggests what we can do to take back public education.
Rick Audas
In 2003 AIMS released the broadest set of public information ever presented on Atlantic Canadian secondary schools. The much-anticipated Report Card paints a rich, complex picture of the unique nature and performance of each high school in the region. The first in an ongoing project to provide transparency in education.
John Philippe
Atlantic Canadian taxpayers give substantial financial support to our region’s university students. Similarly, students invest considerable resources in time, tuition fees and forgone income, to get their university degrees. But what value do taxpayers and students respectively get in return for their investment? And does each contribute to the cost of a university degree in proportion to the benefit they receive from it?
Charles Cirtwill
Accountability, not money, is the key to improved student performance say the authors of AIMS’ report “Testing & Accountability: The Keys to Educational Excellence in Atlantic Canada" It is clear that taxpayers, and the students they help support, are getting less for their investment in education than they deserve and certainly less than their counterparts in some other provinces.
Commentary
07-Jul-2010
Charles Cirtwill
This Commentary explains why post secondary education should be about serving students not sustaining institutions.
03-Jun-2010
Jeb Bush
Transcript of remarks by Governor Jeb Bush about successful education reform at AIMS' 15th anniversary dinner in Moncton.
14-Apr-2010
Janet Albrechtsen
This Commentary from Australia is a lesson to us all in the need for public accountability and public reporting in our education system.
12-Apr-2010
Paul W. Bennett
Educator Paul Bennett looks at lost teaching days in Atlantic Canadian schools and provides evidence of how those lost days hurt our
09-Feb-2009
Charles Cirtwill
Our population is getting older. This Commentary, based on a talk to the Canadian Education Association, examines how that fact will impact education policy.
12-Jun-2003
Jim Meek
Atlantic Canadian educators were quick to vilify the AIMS report card on high schools calling it “a disservice” and “misleading”. What they did not do is back up their arguments with facts. In this commentary for Progress magazine, Jim Meek observes, instead of carping at critics, educators must take a closer look at the benefits of ranking our schools.
12-Mar-2003
Brian Lee Crowley
AIMS is front and centre in the Atlantic Canada media this week following the release of its Report Card on Atlantic Canadian high schools. The Report Card, which ranks regional high schools' performance, has ignited a heated debate over not only the results, but also the impact the study will have on the education system. Critics inside the education establishment have gone so far as to tell teachers not to even read the study. Supporters are saying this type of external review has been far too long coming.
01-Mar-2002
John Phillipe
Atlantic Canadian taxpayers invest substantial sums in our region’s universities, but what value are they actually receiving in return for their investment?
In the Media
12-Dec-2011
The ninth annual AIMS Atlantic Canadian High School Report Card tackles the question: How to make progress? View three op-eds on the topic by AIMS staff and contributors.
12-Dec-2011
AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill argues that there's no crisis in education and that's the underlying problem. Our public education system isn't bad, but remains largely inflexible to individual need and special circumstances.
12-Dec-2011
Providing structured early childhood education is socially and economically beneficial, yet does not top the education agenda. AIMS contributor Paul W. Bennett considers whether government should offer universal childcare programs or target support where it will do the most good.
30-Nov-2011
When the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies puts out its annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools it hopes that the schools ranked in the report recognize it as a supplemental tool for them to use.
29-Nov-2011
AIMS' Ninth Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools is read and assessed by school boards, and is making gains in influencing school improvement - but could be put to better use. A school board administrator from Newfoundland comments.
01-Oct-2011
Recent successes see local District Education Councils (DECs) having real impact on decision-making, but AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill says DECs haven't yet lived up to their intent to move to a more localized decision-making model.
26-Sep-2011
A university degree is still the best way to increase one's earnings over a lifetime, but new research suggests that one in five Canadian graduates end up on the lower end of the income scale. AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill stresses that one is solely focused on income, there are certain choices one should make.
12-Sep-2011
In this interview, choice in public education is discussed. AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill and AIMS Senior Education Fellow Angus McBeath are interviewed on the Edmonton school system and the merits of choice in education.
05-Sep-2011
AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill is interviewed on "the achievement gap" in education, that addresses the issue of some students in certainl demographics beyond their control falling behind in education success.
12-Jul-2011
AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill is interviewed about his thoughts regarding how descisions have been made regarding the prevention of school closures, and his take on backroom allegations made by southernshorenow.ca as a result of a freedom of information request.
12-Nov-2010
Research has repeatedly shown that testing and accountability in our education system improves student performance. In this op-ed, AIMS President & CEO Charles Cirtwill tells New Brunswick to get back in the habit of provincial tests.
05-Jun-2010
This is an edited excerpt from the speech by former Governor Jeb Bush to AIMS' 15th Anniversary event in Moncton. Bush uses his successful experience in Florida to provide tips on improving public education.
02-Jun-2010
This front page story in the Times & Transcript features AIMS 15th anniversary dinner with Jeb Bush. It provides details of education reform that worked in Florida under Bush and has proven successful in other jurisdictions. It mirrors much of AIMS' research in education.
02-Jun-2010
Governor Jeb Bush's speech to AIMS' 15th anniversary dinner in Moncton made front page news in New Brunswick. This article in the Telegraph Journal shows how Bush proposes to drag education into the 21st century. He points out little has changed in the classroom since the 50's.
26-May-2010
In a preview of AIMS' 15th anniversary event in Moncton, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush explains some of the education reforms he championed while in office.
12-Apr-2003
Since the release of AIMS Report Card on Atlantic Canadian high schools more than a month ago, teacher associations and government leaders have categorized the study as misleading, flawed in its data and demonstrating poor methodology. But AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley said none of the government recipients of the study has yet been specific in its claims.
21-Mar-2003
Atlantic Canadian newspapers continue to wade into the debate on AIMS Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools. In the Friday March 21 edition of the Journal Pioneer in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, the paper said it is hard to get upset over Education Minister Chester Gillan not having information on high schools ‘readily available’ when staffing issues should take priority.
15-Mar-2003
The Daily Gleaner, March 15 editorial said the "The public.. is making public education its business." and asked why educators would ask the public to "ignore this report.” The editorial also asks the NBTA to “place their concerns firmly, clearly, and rationally on the table. Only then will the public be able to dismiss and condemn or accept and praise the AIMS work.”
Media Releases
20-Apr-2010
Results for New Brunswick schools for AIMS' 8th Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools.
20-Apr-2010
Use the information to demand real change in your school
09-Jul-2003
Native Maritimer Revolutionizes Public School System with Choice and Accountability
11-Apr-2003
AIMS methodology “exceptional”, “fair”, “illuminating”, “objective”
04-Apr-2003
Newfoundland's claims unsubstantiated. Repetition by other ministers both unfair and uninformed
Event Proceedings
03-Jun-2010
David Seymour will address the Public Section of the Saskatchewan School Boards’ Association on the vexed topic of community feedback in education. If Standardised Testing undermines the autonomy and professionalism of teachers, are there alternatives for satisfying community expectations?
13-May-2005
AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley presented a commentary titled, "Students Without Border, Universities Without Illusions: Why international mobility will cause a quality revolution in our universities." at the annual conference of the National Association of University Chairs and Secretaries (NAUBCS)
11-Jul-2003
Angus McBeath, Superintendent of Public Schools, explains the outstanding success of the Edmonton education reform experience
05-May-1997
Will enabling parents and students to choose their own schools and allowing schools to compete will provide the best educational opportunities.
Newsletters
11-Jul-2003
The White House Comes to AIMS: David Frum on Canada-US relations, why educators are blame AIMS for their own problems plus Brian Lee Crowley on natural gas distribution and the danger of opting for cheap pills now versus new drugs tomorrow.
10-Jul-2003
An invitation to hear Edmonton Superintendent of Schools to speak at an AIMS event, the debate over nationalized auto insurance and Brian Lee Crowley on the future of work in Nova Scotia.
26-Jun-2003
Don’t Miss Angus McBeath at The Halifax Club
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